Council backs plan to buy wetlands

Jenny Marder

The City Council has vowed to support the Huntington Beach Wetlands

Conservancy in its quest to purchase and restore 45 acres of wetlands

between the AES power plant and Brookhurst Street.

The nonprofit group hopes to add to 25 acres, known as the Talbert

Marsh, and another 22 acres it owns near AES, bringing it one step

closer to creating 180 acres of restored salt marsh and coastal dune

habitat along the Surf City coastline.

The land is owned by Daisy E. Piccirelli Enterprises LLC, which is

the estate of the late Daisy Piccirelli.

“The owners are interested in pursuing a sale to the conservancy,”

said Curtis Chipman, the attorney representing the estate. “We are

currently working on a final agreement.”

The City Council agreed Monday night to send a letter in support

of a funding request by the wetlands conservancy to the California

Coastal Conservancy, a state organization committed to protecting

wetlands in Southern California.

Trish Chapman, the Coastal Conservancy’s project manager for the

site, said that she will also recommend that the state agency provide

a grant for the project.

“For the Coastal Conservancy, acquisition in order to preserve and

restore coastal wetlands in Southern California is a high priority

because there are so few left,” Chapman said.

Purchasing the land would mean another victory in the wetland

conservancy’s goal to one day develop all of the Huntington Beach

wetlands, which stretch inland along the Pacific Coast Highway from

the mouth of the Santa Ana River to Beach Boulevard.

“This is part of a mosaic in parcels that makes up the entire

wetlands system,” said Gary Gorman, president of the Huntington Beach

Wetlands Conservancy.

The 45-acre site is separated by Magnolia Street, with 10-acres on

one side and 35 acres on the other.

The conservancy’s plea on Monday night for support from the city

is one step in a larger effort to gain widespread support for

purchase of the land. The organization has also asked that the

special projects branch of the county, Surf City Assemblyman Tom

Harman and local organizations such as the Southeast Huntington Beach

Neighborhood Homeowners Assn. send letters of support to the Coastal

Conservancy.

Restoration of the area to a working wetlands can not begin until

all 180 acres are purchased. The next step in the process will be to

draw up restoration plans. Designs will begin soon after purchase and

will take about a year, Gorman said.

The Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy was formed in 1983 with

a mission of saving and protecting the Huntington Beach Wetlands.

Preserving the wetlands would not only be valuable to the area’s

natural resources, but would have economic and aesthetic benefits,

Gorman said.

“It’s a resource that has been lost over time,” he said. “Our goal

is to preserve the open space and make it accessible to the public.

Wetlands provide flood protection, a nursery area for fish, a

feeding and nesting area for birds and a haven for endangered species

such as brown pelicans, least terns and Savannah sparrows.

“I believe [restoration] would add immeasurably to the appearance

of the area,” Gorman said.

He also expects the increase in bird life that it could trigger

would benefit Surf City’s tourism industry.

“There are a large number of American people that travel to

various places in the country to observe birds,” he said. “It’s a

very quiet activity, but nevertheless there is a significant economy

based around that. This will provide another viewing spot.”

If approved, the state agency will provide the wetlands

conservancy with $1.2 million, Chapman said.

The nonprofit group has been awarded federal funding in the past

for the purchase and restoration of Huntington Beach wetlands. In

2000, the conservancy was granted $700,000 from Proposition 12, the

Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air and Coastal

Protection Bond Act. In 2002, it received $183,000 from Proposition

40, a $2.6-billion bond measure to improve the environment and

protect open space.

Chapman said that the state Coastal Conservancy will continue to

work with the wetlands conservancy to acquire more land along the

coast.

“This is part of an ongoing partnership between the Coastal

Conservancy and the Wetlands Conservancy to acquire and restore as

much of the Huntington Beach wetlands as we can,” Chapman said.